2005 NYS Prayer Summit
2005 New York State Prayer Summit
Raising the Sword
For the second year in a row leaders in city-reaching and region-reaching ministry from throughout New York State gathered for three days of worship, hallowing the name of God, seeking God, interceding for the state, hearing what God is doing in various regions, networking, fellowshipping and strategizing. This year's gathering was held at the Light of the World Christian Church in Latham, just outside Albany in the capital region.
The intercessor team gathered on Sunday evening the 27th of February. This small group of a dozen consisted of mature veterans who moved quickly into warfare prayer after a brief time of introductions and a little bit of teaching. They prayed on site throughout the day and kept the prayer going in shifts in their hotel rooms through the night.
Ministry leaders began to gather shortly before noon on Monday the 28th of February. These were mostly pastors but also some Para-church leaders. - The format was a multilayered "sandwich" of mealtime, worship, prayer, regional presentation(s), prayer and then a repeat of that order. Regions that presented were Corning/Elmira, Chautauqua, St. Lawrence, Buffalo/Niagara, Upper Genesee Valley, Greater Rochester, Greater New York City and the Capital region. - Monday and Tuesday evening time was given for a topical impartation. The topic on Monday evening was "Diverse Yet One." The pre-assigned topic for Tuesday was "Regional Prayer Summits" but we were led to change directions and our presenter, Copi Valdiviez, spoke more on the dynamics of the regional church. Each evening concluded with communion. - The Summit concluded after a re-commissioning of the servant leader team on Wednesday afternoon March 2nd.
The heart of the Monday evening impartation was the importance of building relationships one person at a time. "Take ‘em to lunch" was a phrase often spoken by Copi. People of minority races or ethnic groups do not readily join a regional movement (or even come to a prayer summit) just because they get an invitation in the mail. Relationships must be built leader to leader, pastor to pastor, for the church to come together. The same can be said for leaders from segments of the church that are tradition bound to avoid fellowship with other segments of the church. - On the topic of "Diverse Yet One," Copi also challenged the participants to identify where the common denominator will be in a regional or state-wide movement. If we make the expressions of Christian faith as found in John 1:12 and John 3:16 our common denominator then the door will be open for people from an extremely wide scope of theological and moral persuasions to step onto the "leadership platform."
As the participants prayed and counseled together in the Holy Spirit regarding this challenge they came to this common understanding: A vision we carry at this Summit is to see the Empire State become His Kingdom State. God's Kingdom builders must play by God's Kingdom rules. This does not direct us to the lowest possible common denominator. This directs us to a high common denominator of righteousness in all our ways. "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." (Eph. 5:3 NIV). "Now the overseer/bishop/apostle must be above reproach…" (I Tim. 3:2). - Whenbelievers are one and in complete unity, then the world will know that Christ the savior has come. (John 17:20-23) There the Lord will bestow His blessing (Psalm 133). Therefore we pray with our Lord for that unity to come and we are committed to work for that unity. But, that unity will be around faithfulness to the full will of God and nothing less. Unity for unity's sake is to be shunned. God has been making this clear to His Church around the world for some time now. Unity is not the goal; God's Kingdom is the goal.
Following each regional presentation the participants prayed into that region in various ways as the facilitators directed. The times of prayer were powerfully anointed with many instances of prophetic insight. The regional presentations served to strengthen our connectedness as living stones build next to and upon each other. These presentations also served as a catalyst to further networking during meal times and free times. The meal times were purposely lengthened, compared to the 2004 Summit, and were wonderful times of connecting. - A highlight of the Summit that emerged out of the Saint Lawrence Region presentation was a time during which Wendell (Willie) Jock, a Mohawk Indian, conferred that authority to declare God's purpose over this geographical region, which first belonged to the First Nations people, to the Summit participants. This was done as all the participants gathered in groups by the regions of the state they represented and then Willie laid hands on the members of each group as he conferred authority to them and spoke prophetically concerning them.
The Capital Region team showed a 45 minute DVD titled Capital Transformations that documents how God has been using many municipal prayer groups to bring the church in the region together as one and to begin to transform the region. For information on obtaining a copy of this DVD, contact Pray Capital Region at or call 518/674-8580.
As Francis Frangipane has said, "It takes a citywide Church to win a citywide war." This observation may be extended to say; it takes a countywide Church to win a countywide war and it takes a statewide Church to win a statewide war. Therefore, the commitments of the 2004 NYSPS are still in place [See also: the 2004 synopsis at www.nysps.org]. And therefore, gatherings of city-reaching and region-reaching leaders from throughout New York State are needful on at least an annual basis. And therefore, the servant leader team that sponsored the 2005 Summit is committed to sponsoring such a Summit again in 2006. - The dates for the 2006 New York State Prayer Summit have been set; they are noon to noon March 6-8 with the intercessors gathering on Sunday evening the 5th. The location has not yet been selected at this writing but all details will be posted at www.nysps.org as they become available.